Parenting Children

As a child I loved amusement park rides, the free fall, the triple loops backwards at 60 MPH, all of it. As I got older I got more and more scared of rides. I wouldn’t go on fair rides, because how well were they set up and who is operating it? I was scared of big roller coasters where I used to be fearless. Then I get stories like this and I remember why it is good to be scared sometimes.

A family fell out of a ferris wheel ride and died in South Korea. The seat swung upside down and riders fell 65 feet to their death when the windows fell out of the car.

that is my worst nightmare. I think I will stick to the swings at the park from now on!

amusement parks, rides, amusement park fatalities, parenting, kids, teens, parents

Women who were obese before they became pregnant had a higher rate of children born with birth defects including missing limbs, malformed hearts and underdeveloped spinal cords a new study shows.

In 2003 and 2004, 51 percent of U.S. women aged 20 to 39 were overweight or obese, putting them at increased risk for chronic diseases, infertility, irregular menstruation and pregnancy complications.
Although obesity may not be the cause, it could be the diet of obese women or the way they chose to diet.

Doctors urge women who are overweight to lose weight sensibly and without compromising vitamans and minerals a women needs including folic acid before trying to conceive.

pregnancy, trying to conceive, conception, obese women, birth defects

A simple hearing test given at birth may indicated a SIDS risk, a new U.S. study finds. Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, in Seattle, analyzed data on 31 Rhode Island babies who died of SIDS.
They found that they all had the same difference in newborn hearing test. “Compared with other babies, those who died of SIDS scored four points lower in standard newborn hearing tests, across three different sound frequencies in the right ear.”
It was also found that healthy infants typically test stronger in the right ear than in the left. However, this was not true of the babies who died of SIDS.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome kills about 1 in 1,000 infants a year, typically between 3-6 months of age.

SIDS, hearing tests, newborn hearing tests, infants, newborns, parents, parenting children

Twin Ecuadorian girls who were separated at birth were recently reunited 15 years later. The mother of one of the twins girls saw a girl who more then resembled her daughter. She had to find out who this girl was.

The biological mother said she was not told she delivered twins and that the doctor who had raised one of the girls as his own, stole one of her babies.

The girls want to stay with the parents that raised them but would like to explore a relationship with the sister they never knew existed.

source

twins, family, families, parenting, children, separated at birth

There are a lot of things I wanted to talk about and there never seems like there is enough time in the day. I decided to put it all together in this one post.

Are you looking to make friends in your area like I am? Maybe you just relocated and are looking for great recommendations for spas, childcare or dentists? Try Mamasource.comYou can ask questions or give reviews to other moms in your community. It is a great resource.

The people of babble just launched babblepedia, a parenting Wikipedia, if you will. Right now they are having a contest, the person who writes the most entries by July 31st wins $1000.00! If you don’t want to write a review then just catch up on all your baby There are a lot of things I wanted to talk about and there never seems like there is enough time int he day. I decided to put it all together in this one post.

Gerber recalled some of their baby cereal.

Lead poisoning is still a concern for parents. Learn if your child is at risk for lead poisoning and if you need to get them tested.

If you are still in the market for kids bathing suits or beach towels, the Disney store is having a swim sale.

Lastly, if you are looking for something for your children to do online besides what Noggin.com or Nickjr.com has to offer, try www.uptoten.com. They offer free games, animated cards, coloring and more for kids who are under the age of ten. My kids, who are very new to the computer, love it.

kids, parenting, recalls, online games for kids, children, family, lead poisoning, babblepedia, moms

It is my worst fear, backing up into someone or something I did not or could not see and it happens every day.
Yesterday a Wisconsin Senator backed into his nearly two year old granddaughter and killed her.

He left to go to a meeting and she was in the couch with her grandmother, she must have slipped out of the house and seconds later was ran over by his vehicle.

It is a terrible accident, one that you must blame yourself for every day. Car makers must be made to make it easier for people to see behind them, especially on these huge, wide trucks that are all over the road. There must be better rearview windows on cars, sensors that tell you there is an object to close to the car and cameras on the back so you can accurately see what is in your path.
It is very, very sad.

senator runs over granddaughter, car safety, family cars, kids, children, toddlers, parenting, moms, dads

It seems like you can’t get away from these stories in the summer time, a four year old boy drowned in a pool at Great America in Santa Clara California on Thursday.

He had come to the park with his mother and his sister but nobody knew if they were supervising him in the pool. There are always lifeguards on duty but with so many people in a pool at a given time and how quickly it takes and accident to happen I could never count on the lifeguards to save anyone.

The problem with water parks is that there are many people who go there who are not good swimmers or are mediocre swimmers but think the lifeguards will be there to save them when things go wrong. I would never let my children go in a pool unsupervised at someone’s home, never mind a water park.

This is one of many deaths and injuries at Great America. There have been a number of notable injuries and accidents at Great America, some of which are listed below. Please see Incidents at Cedar Fair parks for additional information on these and other incidents.

In 1980, a 14-year-old boy was killed and several others injured on the (now defunct) Willard’s Whizzer roller coaster.
In 1989, two boys intentionally jumped out of the Loggers’ Run ride. One was killed and the other fell safely onto a platform.[citation needed]
In 1998, after riding Top Gun, a man disregarded the warning signs and entered a locked, gated area underneath the ride to retrieve a hat. He was hit and killed by the foot of a passenger on the Top Gun train. The passenger suffered a broken leg.
In 1999, a 12-year-old boy fell out of the Drop Zone Stunt Tower and died
On July 12, 2007, a 4 year old boy drowned in the Boomerang Bay’s Great Barrier Reef wave pool.*

How safe do you think amusement or water parks are? Do you let your children go to these places in the summer time?

water parks, Great America, amusement parks, dangerous water parks, kids, teens, parenting, family

Money can be tight when you have kids especially when you go from a two income household to one income, like my family. Things that are not necessary are cut out of the budget and every penny counts.
That is why when I saw this deal at Bankaholic.com, I knew I had to pass it on.
Going on right now is a great offer from American Express Business Gold Rewards card.

Apply for this American Express credit card, make a purchase, and they will credit your account with 25,000 points! You can redeem that for a round trip plane ticket anywhere in the United States. If you don’t have time to fly (C’mon, who can’t use a vacation?) you could also cash in the 25,000 points for a cool $250 rewards gift certificate. Free money!
Of course having an American Express card requires you to pay a fee, but with this offer, the $125 annual fee is waived. You can get the card, make a purchase, get your reward points and cancel the card before your year is up, so you will never have to pay the fee.

Of course this is a business card, but you can still get this offer even if you do not have a business, just put your name as the business name and leave the “Federal Tax ID�? form blank, and they’ll assume that you are a sole proprietorship.

This offer is for U.S. citizens only. I am not sure when this offer will expire, so don’t delay!

American Express, moms, parents, cool deals, deals, saving money, SAHM

I know that many parents are feeding their children, and themselves a healthier diet these days. If there is any booty in your house, you better get rid of it quickly. The FDA just recalled Veggie Booty nationwide due to possible contamination with salmonella bacteria.

The FDA has had 52 reports of illness in 17 states, beginning in March. Almost all of the victims have been children under age 10, mostly toddlers, which is very scary.

Throw away all of your booty, mates.

Pirates Booty, Veggie Booty, recalls, food recalls, snack recalls parenting, kids, snacks

Women who have morning sickness will tell you it is horrible to experience queasiness and nausea all day and night for weeks or even months. There may be a silver lining though, women who have morning sickness may have a 30 percent less chance of developing breast cancer then the women who didn’t experience any morning sickness.

The study was conducted in women 35-79 from two Western New York counties between 1996 and 2001. The hormones that make a woman sick also may protect the woman against cancer cells.

Obviously more research is needed but it can be somewhat reassuring for a woman who is dealing with morning sickness at any point in their pregnancy.

breast cancer, morning sickness, moms, pregnancy

A Newark NJ school district has apologized to a student and issued new yearbooks after they blacked out a picture of two boys kissing in all of the yearbooks.

In the photo, a student Andre Jackson is seen turning his head back over his right shoulder and kissing his boy friend who does not attend that school. It was blacked out after the district’s assistant superintendent who oversees the city’s high schools, was concerned that the photo could upset parents.

The photo was on a personal tribute page, that Andre Jackson paid for himself. Apparently the yearbook had pictures of heterosexual couples kissing throughout the book that were not blacked out.

I am not sure I would want my child’s yearbook to have any pictures of couples kissing, I don’t really think it is necessary. I guess if it were a personal page, which was paid for by the student, censoring it is not right. I personally have no problem. with same sex couples, or anyone showing affection in public, to a degree. I know that I would not like a picture blacked out of my yearbook, that I paid for, if it was an issue of a suggestive picture, it should have been brought up before the books went to press. The boy should have had the option to swap out the picture for one that was less “suggestive” if that was the problem.

What do you think about what the school district did? Do they owe the student a public apology?

newark schools, yearbook censored picture, teens, high school, gay teens

I once read that the number one cause of death of pregnant women is murder. I am not sure if that is 100% true but with high profile cases like Laci Peterson, Lori Hacking and now Jessie Davis, it is not hard to believe.

How is it that these women are murdered not only by crazy women that want to steal their babies but by their partners, husbands and fathers of their unborn babies. At one of the happiest times of their lives, they are killed in very horrific ways. I know for me the Laci Peterson case was very emotional and heart wrenching because she went missing when I was pregnant with our twins and she was due just a couple weeks after I was.
Murder of anyone is horrific but to think of a woman who was just starting our her career as a mother and the innocent baby who never had a chance to take one breath, well, it is unimaginable.
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About 1.5 million Thomas & Friends railroad sets, trains and buildings are being recalled the Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Wednesday.

The wooden railway toys, made in China, are being voluntarily recalled because some may contain lead paint. Lead is very dangerous to adults and children but young children under the age of six are especially vulnerable to lead’s harmful health effects, because their brains and central nervous system are still being formed. For them, even very low levels of exposure can result in reduced IQ, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, behavioral problems, stunted growth, impaired hearing, and kidney damage.

You can find out more information on the recall here.

tags] recalls, Thomas & Friends, Thomas & Friends recall, trains, wooden trains, toys, train sets, toy recalls, kids, children, parentts [/tags]

A Setauket junior high school gym teacher, Matt Foster, was arrested last week after he duct taped a students legs together causing him to break his arm.

The 57 year old Long Island NY teacher and chair of the physical education and health departments, was put on paid leave from the school.
He wrapped a students legs together in the locker room, apparently because the student was late to class, and was told to walk into the gym like that. The freshman student stood up and fell, braking one of his arms.

What do you think should happen to this teacher? Was being put on a paid leave appropriate or should he have been fired right away?

You can read the full story here.

gym teachers, school, teacher duct taped student’s legs, teenagers, parenting, abusive teachers, Matthew Foster

It is the season for swim school, or at least it is here in NJ where all the swim classes are packed. This will be my four year old’s first time in swim classes. I think they will be great, but I am glad I didn’t take them much sooner.
A new European study has found infants who take classes or swim with their mother’s in indoor pools are at a higher risk for developing asthma.
Children who swim in indoor pools with overly chlorinated air, is associated with airway changes that, along with other factors, seem to predispose children to the development of asthma and recurrent bronchitis.

They think the exposure to chemicals, like chlorine, may alter the lining of the lungs making it easier for children to develop asthma.
They say you should not expose yourself or your children to overly chlorinated pools (you know, the pools when you walk in the smell of chlorine is very strong) and not allow children to swim in indoor pools for more then 20 minutes. Of course, try to make sure your children do not drink pool water.

The findings appear in the June issue of Pediatrics

pools, swim school, kid’s swim classes, swim classes, indoor pools, parenting, kids, children, infants, asthma, asthma in children